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Science

Project Manager & Editor: Mark Notturno

We generally regard science as a model of objective open inquiry. We have long relied upon science and scientists to ‘speak truth to power’. And we have long appealed to scientists and scientific knowledge to inform public policy decisions in a wide variety of areas that concern us. But science itself might also be regarded as appropriate for public discussion. This is because scientific theories can often be difficult to understand; because the evidence that supports them can often be difficult to interpret; because scientific knowledge changes with new discoveries and cannot be shown to be true in any absolute or final way; and because citizens and policymakers are often called upon to trust scientists about matters that they do not really understand. But it is also because scientific inquiry often seems to be influenced in questionable ways by a variety of non-scientific factors.